Measure would put Neb. campaign disclosures online

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A Nebraska lawmaker is working to reverse a campaign finance measure he fought to get on the books more than 20 years ago because the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional last year.

Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln will ask lawmakers on the floor in the next week or so to repeal Nebraska's Campaign Finance Limitation Act, which had given money to candidates who voluntarily agreed to cap spending limits when their opponents did not.

Even though Avery calls it an unpleasant task, the chairman of the Committee on Government, Military and Veterans Affairs said it's his committee's responsibility to carry the bill to repeal the law.

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The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Arizona. No candidate has received so-called fair fight money since the court's ruling, but Avery said it still needs to be taken out of statute.

"The law worked very well for Nebraska for 20 years," Avery said. "I thought that we did not need to have a legislature that is populated by people who could appeal to people with the deepest pockets. Money should not determine whether you're elected. "

While he's losing the fight on campaign finance limitations, Avery's bill also asks senators to support developing an electronic filing system that would allow people to view campaign finance reports online. It is a move that would enable the public to access campaign spending records with ease, he said.

The funding to create the site would come from the Nebraska Campaign Finance Limitations Act fund, which has about $920,000 from late campaign filing fees, campaign violation fines and money taxpayers voluntarily agreed to contribute from their state tax income returns. About two-thirds of that money would go to the Accountability and Disclosure Office to fund the electronic filing system, while about $300,000 would help fund the Secretary of State's Office efforts to maintain voting technology, Avery said.

"Electronic filing provides greater transparency and greater public access to public records," he said.

But Avery wasn't successful in convincing the committee to lower the threshold for reporting campaign donations and spending from $250 to $100. Nor was he able to get the committee to require campaigns to file annual campaign bank account statements with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.

"You have to understand that the committee is pretty conservative, and there is a reluctance to fully embrace any reporting by some committee people," Avery said. "To change it from $250 to $100 in their minds was too drastic of a change and would require a lot more record keeping by candidate committees."

Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha supported lowering the reporting limit to $50 in past years, but has now changed his mind. Lautenbaugh said the $50 limit was a bargaining chip to do away with a campaign finance limitation law he had always opposed.

Avery said he and Lautenbaugh have "locked horns" for many years over the law.

"It was my attempt at a compromise," Lautenbaugh said. "I thought it was something that I was willing to give up to get rid of something I thought was a bigger problem."

Lautenbaugh said the campaign finance law was aimed at getting big money out of politics but that it actually shifted money to third party groups that have less oversight and aren't required to file campaign spending disclosures.

Jack Gould, executive director of government watchdog group Common Cause Nebraska, questioned whether the Legislature really wants better disclosure. He said there should be a lower report threshold so the public can see what kinds of fundraisers lawmakers are attending with lobbyist. The cost of attending the events is usually under $250.

Gould said the provision that would have let the commission crosscheck campaign reports and expenditures is a process that could have detected the more than $63,000 former Sen. Brenda Council illegally withdrew from her campaign to gamble with over a two and a half year period. She lost her seat against Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers last year.

"It could happen again and it could have happened before. We just don't know because no one has access to these bank statements," Gould said. "Once a year is not too much to ask."